Who better than OutKast to write your country’s national anthem? Just imagine the Star-Spangled Banner OutKast would craft, with Andre 3000’s rhymes and Big Boi’s hooks.
Well some in one country are trying to make that reality recently. A group of Australians are trying to replace their country’s national anthem with OutKast’s 2003 hit “Hey Ya.” You may be wondering how or why “Hey Ya” instills national pride in these folks, but if America’s government announced “Hey Ya” was now our national anthem tomorrow, would you really question it? You wouldn’t rather hear “Hey Ya” before football games and recited every morning in public elementary schools across America?
All we’re saying is we get it, Australia. And while only four petitioners actually signed the bid to replace “Advance Australia Fair” with OutKast’s “Hey Ya,” the government still acknowledged and reacted to it. The Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull responded in written letter to Parliament on Monday.
House of Reps, 22/5/2017, p.14 Responses to Petitions #auspol pic.twitter.com/kXK8fE0JPM
— Found In The Hansard (@inthehansard) May 22, 2017
“The Australian National Anthem is widely accepted and popularly supported by a majority of Australians. The Australian Government has no plans to change the Anthem,” reads Turnbull’s letter.
“Thank you for bringing this petition to my attention. I appreciate the important work of the Standing Committee on Petitions in putting community concerns before the Parliament.”
Perhaps you read this as a standard bureaucratic rejection letter. It’s probably intelligent to read it that way. But for the rest of us we’d prefer believing one day OutKast will blare as our national anthem. Until then, Australians will have to settle for this local cover of the national anthem remixed to the melodies and rhythms of “Hey Ya.”
